Small children can be protected against shock and injury by plugging electrical outlets so that metal objects cannot be easily inserted into the plug holes.
The prior art includes several safety plug devices consisting of caps having electrically non-conducting prongs which can be inserted into the outlet holes. One such device is disclosed in the Tricca patent No. 4,293,173. A shortcoming of Tricca is that it has no means to attach the plug to the outlet when not in use. Accordingly, it is likely that the Tricca cap will quickly be misplaced and/or lost. This, of course, completely defeats its purpose.
Three patents have been discovered which relate to the disclosed invention. They are: Koehler's Patent No. 4,408,813, F. W. Schwartz Patent No. 3,389,367, and Abraham's Patent No. 2,932,811. These three patents include safety plugs attached to standard extension cords and safety plugs attached to electrical wall outlets.
Koehler discloses a safety plug and tether for an electrical extension cord. The tether 40 is integral with the housing 12. Koehler uses a tab at the remote edge of the insulating cover 36 to remove the safety plug. This tab is small and makes removal of the device difficult. Koehler does not use the tether as a tab to facilitate the removal of the plug. In addition, Koehler relates to extension cords rather than permanent electrical outlets.
Schwartz discloses a plastic plug 15 and a plate portion 18 which permits the device 15 to be secured to an extension cord. The hinges 21 and 25, effectively act as a flexible tether as illustrated in Koehler. The plates 19 and 20 are the same width as the covers, 22 and 24, making it difficult to use, if not impossible, as an aid in removing the plug from the extension cord.
Lastly, Abraham discloses a safety cover for an electrical outlet, where the safety cover is attached to the outlet by receiving the face plate screw of the outlet through an aperture midway between the two plugs 10 and 12. While the Abraham device keeps the safety cover in place when not in use, it is difficult to use because of the close proximity of the plugs 10, and 12 to the outlet. The plugs, 10 and 12, cannot be effectively removed from the area immediate to the socket. The lack of an effective tab also makes Abraham's plug difficult to remove from the socket.
All of the prior art devices are different to remove from the socket. None of the prior art teaches the use of the tether as a tab to enable the plug to be easily removed.